Like many families, spaghetti and meatballs/meat sauce has become a staple in our household. Growing up, my dad would spend hours in the kitchen making his famous homemade sauce and the most delicious meatballs. As a little girl, I distinctly remember refusing to eat jarred sauce or sauce out at a restaurant because it was never as good as my dads. He is defintely the reason my palate is so snobby (thanks dad)! All jokes aside, I am thankful that he set the bar so high when it came to cooking, and especially when it came to flavor! It is one of the reasons this little snobby- palate-girl become an avid baker and cook!
Now most of the time, I will make his famous sauce and meatballs but as of recently, my days have been so busy chasing after a toddler, that I had have less time available in the kitchen. I knew I really needed to find a quicker alternative and thankfully I stumbled upon Rao’s Homemade Marinara Sauce . Holy moly, I was pleasantly surprised! It has simple ingredients, and doesn’t contain any additives or preservatives. It also has great flavor and even better, it actually tastes HOMEMADE ( and that says a whole lot coming from a girl who refused jarred sauce here entire life)!! This brand has become my go-to when I’m in a pinch. Now, I do sauté a an onion, a pepper and some garlic and add it to the sauce to give it a little more flavor, but you could do without it and it would still be yummy!
For this recipe, I chose to use spaghetti squash instead of pasta because I like to switch it up from time to time and this just really makes this meal more nutritious. Now we still eat pasta in this house (don’t worry friends), but it is a nice substitution, on occasion! This dish is really the perfect alternative for those who love pasta! It is just as hearty but you don’t get that same heavy feeling you get after eating it. And simply by adding this yummy meat sauce, your spaghetti squash really went to another level! Now keep in mind, the sauce by itself is good (for my vegan friends), but I prefer adding the meat, as it really gets the carnivores boys in my house EXTREMELY excited!
This recipe is one that the whole family can enjoy and doesn’t require that much effort. It only takes about an hour to make from start to finish. And if you do end up making this dish, please tell me how it turned out in the comment section below!
Recipe:
1 lb of grass fed organic beef
1 Jar of Rao’s Marinara Sauce
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 chopped organic bell pepper
4 minced garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
1 spaghetti squash
Instructions:
Sauce:
- Add oil to a skillet and brown beef. Season with salt and pepper. Once browned, drain beef and remove from skillet.
- Sauté onion and pepper until soft and then add garlic. Sauté for about one minute until fragrant.
- Add tomato sauce and season with salt, pepper, oregano and garlic as needed.
- Add beef back to sauce.
- Cover and simmer on low for about an hour.
- Add Parmesan cheese if desired once it is finished.
Spaghetti Squash:
- While the sauce is cooking, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut your squash in half, right down the middle.
- Line baking trey with parchment paper.
- Scoop out seeds and stringy filling of squash into the garbage.
- Brush lightly with olive oil or avocado oil and season with salt.
- Place squash onto baking tray facing down.
- Cook for 45 minutes.
- Let cool for about 10 mins before using a fork to scrape the squash into “spaghetti”.
- Scoop out “spaghetti” into serving dish and top with sauce and grated fresh Parmesan cheese (if dairy free-omit)!
- Enjoy!